Soil structure query- Heavy compacted clay lawn

Hey all,

Im home for a few days after a phenomenally busy few months and the garden is unkempt and unloved. The shrubs and roses muddled along, but the veg is a write off. The only good news is Ive got lots of drought tolerant beans to save for planting next year!

The worst news is my small circular lawn is a disaster, scrubby with hard, bare patches.

Ive posted about it before- its was previously a terrace which I took up a couple of years ago. I clearly didn't dig in enough organic material as the extremely compacted, heavy clay has seized up like concrete and I cant get a fork in AT ALL.
Its usually ok because I turn the sprinkler on for half an hour a week and aerate regularly but Ive not been here to do it this summer. Now if I try to dig in, the fork tines skate along the surface.

Through brute force and applying copious amounts of water I managed to lever up a small, particularly bad area.


Massive breeze block sized clods came up and with judicious smashing broke down into smaller clods, but much of it is just bone dry dust.



In an attempt to alter the soil structure Ive now dug in all of last year's leaf mould and as much compost as I can spare, but what now?



Do I:

• Continue digging in humus and soil conditioners and sow again from scratch next spring?
  
• Aerate and top dress with half a ton of sharp sand?
  
• Dig the lot up and starting again with fresh top soil?

Id rather not have to return it to a terrace- Id love some more options please.
My real concern is it takes years to alter soil structure- am I going to have to dig this lawn up every autumn to add organic material?!

Ive got 4 days to fit in the work before Im away again, plus Ive got to fit it around work and training- so Im considering giving up sleep to get it done.

Now Im off to check out your giant pumpkins!
x

 

search google for soil conditioners from the recycle centre .... from what I have heard, it is fairly cheap and can be bought in bulk (stuff made from the green bins)

add a thick layer and hire a rotivator to work the soil/soil conditioner ... rotivate to at least 4 inches deep

rake the worked soil and try break up the clods into smaller pieces with the back of a flat spade

get a sturdy long ladder .... tie 2 pieces of rope on the ladder and drag it accross the surface to level off (do not use a roller)

add some Vitax fertilizer (7-7-7) .... leave for a couple of days, then lay the turf and water well

I have a lawn expert book somewhere (which I cannot find right now), and if memory serves me right, it is too late to seed grass, but the perfect time to lay turf

next year in spring, aerate, and use a course sand/grit as a topdressing

when I find the book, I will bump the thread and advise what the book recomends (word for word), but it is similar to what I have advised

 

Ive had a load of sharp sand and more compost delivered.

Im digging it over this this autumn, I'll have no time at all next spring.
The plan is to get all the grunt work done now.

BTW - Is Wickes sharp sand 'washed'?

 

from the book: Lawn Expert by Dr. D.G. Hessayon:

Top Dressing:

for lawns on heavy soil:

1 part Peat (use a fine-grade sphagnum or sedge peat, well decomposed leaf mould is a satisfactory substitute. Garden compost is best avoided-weed seeds can be a problem)

2 parts Loam: this is soil which is neither clayey nor sandy.

4 parts snd: sea sand is not suitable as it must be lime-free. The particle size should not be too large-avoid coarse grit

best time to apply as a top dressing is early autumn (mid september)

-----------------

I have a new lawn to seed in spring (a new build home- they will only start building next year)

I will first treat all the weeds, wait till they have died down, remove, then rotivate as deep as I can

then I will add loads of the organic soil conditioner (the stuff from the recycle centre that is made from the waste from green bins)

then I will rotivate again, level off, remove stones/rubble and wait for new weeds to appear, then treat them with weekiller and remove ... then I will add a balanced fertilizer such as growmore (7-7-7)

then, I will install a pop-up sprinkler system, then sow the seed and apply a layer of the top dressing as described above

nice job and a very nice house (from what I have seen from the architects plans)

according to the book, the top dressing should be applied once a year to existing lawns in mid september .... but you need to aerate and scarify a few days before

 

Melinda - I don't think there is any salt in sharp sand. Sharp sand is also known as river sand. You are thinking of sea sand, but that is not sharp. The action of the sea would remove all the sharpness. I use unwashed sharp sand from builders merchants to add to compost for seeds, seedlings and potted up plants. I have never had a problem.

 

Cheers for the advice guys.

MOAN ALERT.
TBH Im losing heart about the garden, I have no time - my to do list is comical!

Ive not been at home properly for any length of time in 3 months. When Im here Im working late at the office to repay the incredible support, time and confidence they have invested in me.

I had half an hour yesterday evening and so planted up some containers with bulbs- in the dark. :D

It seems silly to get a gardener in when I enjoy doing it so much. I had the ancient cherry tree pollarded while I was in Slovenia and it now looks like a forlorn and humbled giant.
I could have done it much more sensitively had I done it myself.

I had so many ideas for renovating this old garden, it looked so pretty earlier this year but I rather feel Ive let it down this past few months. Its been a casualty of my lunatic summer.

 

Quick questions.

Dim- are you doing the work now or waiting for the spring?

Ive just started digging the clay because the ground is now wet enough to come up in massive slabs. Yay.

Should I really, really wait for spring to dig in the compost and sand? Or can I do it now?

There are loads of worms by the way, way more than I thought.
And Im now concerned because I was listening to the GQT podcast about worms not liking disturbed ground.

 

I have to wait till spring (builders have to be finished ... or nearly finished with their building)

however, you dont need to wait so go ahead and sort the site with the compost/rotivate etc

don't seed now until spring though ... in early spring, sort the weeds then seed

 

Cheers Dim.

Got 3/4 of it done last night, working by security light till about 9pm and then a friend rescued me and we went out to eat.

Woke up today completely convinced it was a Saturday. I was actually in the car listening to the radio before realising it wasnt.
Went back to bed, and had the weirdest dream where I jilted some random at the altar and was running through an airport in my wedding dress to catch up with Cappie from Greek.

I need more sleep.